The New York City Department of Transportation (NYC DOT) has teamed up with the Chinatown Partnership and Van Alen Institute to launch Gateways to Chinatown, a competition seeking innovative proposals to plan, design, and construct an iconic contemporary neighborhood marker between Manhattan’s Chinatown and Little Italy. The new structure and public space is envisioned as a vibrant place of exchange in one of the city’s most historically rich area. Multidisciplinary design teams from around the world are invited to submit culturally sensitive and forward-thinking proposals to activate the space. The team, which will be selected this fall, will have a $900,000 budget to design and implement their proposal, and will begin working with the community in early 2018. The proposal due date is June 19, 2017.